The worst part about MLP's are when these guys actually sell the damn things after holding onto them for like a decade, then complain when there basis is really low (and their tax really high) because all those tax free distributions reduce their basis. sorry bro, im not going to shed a tear when you invest like $60k in an mlp, receive like $27K in distributions, and then sell it when its worth 85K and you have to pay tax on a $52k gain because your basis is so low.

I'm interested in the take on this from the various investors here....

So I'm getting close to reaching my current savings goal (with the understanding that the crappola interest rate is the price to pay for having a very liquid emergency fund).If I were to be able to max out my IRA - which I stopped doing due to moving last year - again, the next step might be?

I have a 403b from work. Do I simply concentrate on putting as much as I can in that? It's currently at about 1/3 of the salary deferral limit per year. The reason I ask, is that I wouldn't mind funneling some non-deferred income into a mutual fund for 5-15 (?) year income generation. So I would end up with fully liquid (checking and savings), semi-liquid (mutual funds) and completely unliquid (IRA and 403b).

Or am I just thinking about this wrong and should just concentrate on the two retirement angles?

columbia wrote:I'm interested in the take on this from the various investors here....

So I'm getting close to reaching my current savings goal (with the understanding that the crappola interest rate is the price to pay for having a very liquid emergency fund).If I were to be able to max out my IRA - which I stopped doing due to moving last year - again, the next step might be?

I have a 403b from work. Do I simply concentrate on putting as much as I can in that? It's currently at about 1/3 of the salary deferral limit per year. The reason I ask, is that I wouldn't mind funneling some non-deferred income into a mutual fund for 5-15 (?) year income generation. So I would end up with fully liquid (checking and savings), semi-liquid (mutual funds) and completely unliquid (IRA and 403b).

Or am I just thinking about this wrong and should just concentrate on the two retirement angles?

Since everyone else is a cold hearted jagoff and did not answer when this was first posted....it wouldnt be a bad idea to try and max out your 403b, but kenny the kangaroo would suggest to probably split any extra savings between that liquid emergency fund and the 403b. Maxing out a retirement plan is great, but in this gentleman's opinion its never a bad idea to have extra cash available.

I'm doing a rollover from a 40% bond /60% stock fund to the Vanguard VTSAX index fund. It should go through sometime next week, so I'm kind of hoping for the market to continue to tank between now and then.

Bernanke probably could have just sneezed and the markets would have dropped. People were waiting for any slightly negative thing from him to take profits and run. I just wonder how low we are going to go. DOW down below 15000 at 14880 right now.

columbia wrote:I'm interested in the take on this from the various investors here....

So I'm getting close to reaching my current savings goal (with the understanding that the crappola interest rate is the price to pay for having a very liquid emergency fund).If I were to be able to max out my IRA - which I stopped doing due to moving last year - again, the next step might be?

I have a 403b from work. Do I simply concentrate on putting as much as I can in that? It's currently at about 1/3 of the salary deferral limit per year. The reason I ask, is that I wouldn't mind funneling some non-deferred income into a mutual fund for 5-15 (?) year income generation. So I would end up with fully liquid (checking and savings), semi-liquid (mutual funds) and completely unliquid (IRA and 403b).

Or am I just thinking about this wrong and should just concentrate on the two retirement angles?

Since everyone else is a cold hearted jagoff and did not answer when this was first posted....it wouldnt be a bad idea to try and max out your 403b, but kenny the kangaroo would suggest to probably split any extra savings between that liquid emergency fund and the 403b. Maxing out a retirement plan is great, but in this gentleman's opinion its never a bad idea to have extra cash available.

Yeah, I've decided on the following plan:

Max out my retirement possibilities and save away the rest for the next crash.If I can buy big into the market when it hits about half of what it is now (which was the historical low on two occasions for my primary index fund), I won't be disappointed.(ie It's at 40 and I'll go all in - aside from my minimum comfort for savings - at 20.)

columbia wrote:I'm interested in the take on this from the various investors here....

So I'm getting close to reaching my current savings goal (with the understanding that the crappola interest rate is the price to pay for having a very liquid emergency fund).If I were to be able to max out my IRA - which I stopped doing due to moving last year - again, the next step might be?

I have a 403b from work. Do I simply concentrate on putting as much as I can in that? It's currently at about 1/3 of the salary deferral limit per year. The reason I ask, is that I wouldn't mind funneling some non-deferred income into a mutual fund for 5-15 (?) year income generation. So I would end up with fully liquid (checking and savings), semi-liquid (mutual funds) and completely unliquid (IRA and 403b).

Or am I just thinking about this wrong and should just concentrate on the two retirement angles?

Since everyone else is a cold hearted jagoff and did not answer when this was first posted....it wouldnt be a bad idea to try and max out your 403b, but kenny the kangaroo would suggest to probably split any extra savings between that liquid emergency fund and the 403b. Maxing out a retirement plan is great, but in this gentleman's opinion its never a bad idea to have extra cash available.

Yeah, I've decided on the following plan:

Max out my retirement possibilities and save away the rest for the next crash.If I can buy big into the market when it hits about half of what it is now (which was the historical low on two occasions for my primary index fund), I won't be disappointed.(ie It's at 40 and I'll go all in - aside from my minimum comfort for savings - at 20.)

Lather. Rinse. Repeat after that.

"Save away the rest". <<< The question is WHERE?

But as a whole, your strategy is outstanding, I mean what other choices do you really have anyway?

He makes an interesting point about treating future social security income as your safety/fixed income investing.The result being staying away from investments in bonds on a personal level and simply sticking with index stock funds.